By
Rebecca Frankel
Best
Defense Chief Canine Correspondent
"It was added that Chips, three years old, 'had already met Mr. Churchill
and General Eisenhower and was
anxious to bite Hitler" -- NY Times,
January 23, 1944
There
have been, throughout history, dogs who've received notice for their
outstanding service during times of war (many of whom we'll be meeting in this series). Indeed, World
War II history is chock full of war dog stories. According to H.I. Brock's article
"Mentioned in Dispatches" which ran in 1944, war dog activity on the
front was regularly reported in Army dispatches. But only a fair few have actually been awarded medals of valor for
their heroics and Chips is one such soldier.
According
to war-dog lore, Chips, a shepherd, husky and collie mix, was donated to the
Army by his owner, Edward J. Wren of Pleasantville, NY. After the attack on
Pearl Harbor, the American Kennel Club,
along with a group called "Dogs for Defense," appealed to the general
public, asking folks to offer their pets for service in the war effort. Chips,
3-years-old at the time, was sent to Front Royal for training as a sentry dog
in 1942.
But
the heart-stopping events that launched this war dog into the front-page headlines took
place on the beaches of Sicily:
Chips
had gone ashore ... with Pvt. John R. Rowell holding his leash. When enemy
machine gunners opened fire on our men from a camouflaged pillbox, Chips was
let go. He charged."
According to the NY
Times, on
Nov. 19 1944 Chips was awarded
the Silver Star (and the
Purple Heart) for "courageous action in single-handedly eliminating a dangerous
machine-gun nest and causing the surrender of its crew."
Other
accounts of the
attack say that "[Chips] sustained minor injuries including scalp
wounds and powder burns, "... showing that a vicious fight had taken place
inside the hut and that the soldiers had attempted to shoot the dog with a
revolver."
However, later the War
Department launched an inquiry into these awards since Army regulations forbid
giving such decorations to animals. One article reports
that Chips's medals were taken away, and that no other "military dog has
received official decoration since."
But,
perhaps Chips wasn't
quite so disappointed. At least his owner, Mrs. Edward J. Wren of Pleasantville, N.Y., didn't
think so:
[Wren] said she thought dogs ought
to have medals, but she had a feeling Chips himself would have preferred a
pound of hamburger."
Chips was honorably discharged
from the Army and it's said he
returned home to New York, but died only 7 months later as a result of injuries
sustained during his tour, he was six years old.
Like so many other war
heroes, Chips has been forever immortalized in a novel based on his life,
Chips The War Dog and in a made-for-TV movie
which premiered on the Disney channel in 1990 by the same name.
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